Death… And Me

Chapter 3878: Follow My Lead

’Oh! Found it!’ Kentucky immediately warned everyone. ’There is a platform ahead with one of those gravitational shifts, but this time, I can clearly feel the Spatial Distortion hidden within.’

’So, what are you waiting for?’ Roan asked while he kept running. ’Just test it already.’

Kentucky nodded and flew inside. Normally, only the gravitational shift would take place. To make use of the Spatial Distortion, you had to be in the precise right position when the gravitational shift occurred, or nothing would happen. Obviously, for Kentucky, that wasn’t an issue.

*Zush!*

Kentucky was suddenly swallowed by the Spatial Distortion, and his vision blurred for a second. By the time it came back to normal, he was already somewhere else. Was he closer to the center now? He didn’t even need to check his CD to know. That’s because the distance between him and the rest of the twins’ group immediately diminished by over a thousand kilometers.

’Seems like it is working,’ Rean commented, having felt Kentucky’s sudden change in position. ’Sister Orb, tell Foliana, Zangeshu, and Tanxan about it too.’

[Already did.]

Their group continued to run everywhere, always trying to go in the direction of the center of the dimensional realm. Sure enough, even though the majority of the gravitational shifts were just that, including those with traps, some did have the shifts.

Roan told them to not take them all, though. Since you had to be in the right position during the shift, the normal thing would be for them to miss the Spatial Distortions. If they took all the Spatial Distortions one after another, anyone would be able to tell that they could feel where the Spatial Distortions were located. That’s not something experts at their level should be able to do.

In the end, they established a rule to take the Spatial Distortions only after missing somewhere between three and ten distortions randomly. The gravitational shifts, especially the ones with traps and illusions added, were by far the majority. It made sense to use that number of intervals.

Days passed... Suddenly, everyone’s CDs received a message, prompting those with free hands to check immediately. It was basically just a notification.

-Qrudrey Mannes, Token 01 Acquired.-

Yes, only after several days did the first participant finally find his way to the spiral at the center of the maze. There was a reason for that. You could use the Spatial Distortions to teleport closer to the center, but there was a limit. The last hundred kilometers would have to be covered on foot... or flying through the corridors, since they are cultivators.

As a huge spherical dimensional realm, the participants could come from all directions, but ultimately started to converge in the central region, where they had to move on foot.

Here is a place where luck also played a big part. After all, the maze constantly changed, so there was no lack of dead ends or paths that brought you in the wrong direction. Even if you entered the right path, if you were not fast enough, it might become the wrong one in a matter of minutes.

As another day passed, the messages on the CDs started appearing more frequently.

-Hentia Klufdao, Token 19 acquired.-

---

*Boom!*

*Arrrghhh!*

Someone was suddenly struck by a dark energy lance that appeared out of nowhere before exploding. The victim died straight away, and from behind a corner, another cultivator appeared and took his Spatial Ring away before leaving the area as fast as possible.

The number of participants succeeding wasn’t the only thing that was increasing. The number of battles resulting from the convergence of experts has also increased significantly. There were even a few of them who bumped into their own companions and formed instant alliances, especially those from the top ten powers of Surute Region, since they were more numerous.

’Yo! Long time no see!’ Rean waved at Foliana while messaging her with his Divine Sense, smiling.

Foliana’s eyes lit up, happy to see him. ’Rean! To think we would meet in the end. Hahaha!’

In their case, it was indeed just a coincidence. Rean couldn’t feel Foliana’s presence, after all.

But then, they left through different paths, pretending to not want to get close to each other. Let’s not forget. In everyone’s eyes, they don’t know each other. The only one who would notice this was probably Dongfun, but the slave trader wasn’t even watching the online stream.

’So, I’ve been running around ever since we got closer to the central area. Yet, I keep finding dead ends nonstop,’ Rean commented with his Divine Sense before Foliana left its range.

’Same here,’ she commented. ’I’ll be honest, I think the Verjansy Country didn’t leave more than two or three correct paths open. Only nineteen participants have reached the spire until now. Oh, shit! Another one.’

Foliana quickly changed direction, making it look like a normal decision. Yet, a few seconds later, a Saint Realm participant appeared on the same path she had just been on. The guy looked at the entrances around, selecting a random one and leaving.

Too bad Foliana left the range of Divine Sense as a result. Of course, she simply continued their conversation through their CDs.

’There are really a lot of them converging in here. I’m doing what I can to avoid those in the Saint Realm, but if one ends up bumping into me and decides to attack, it will be hard to pretend to be this weak. It’s good I have the Divine Sense advantage, although it is heavily affected by the platforms, so I can’t see too far.’

Roan joined that conversation. Even he was losing his patience with this constant change of the maze. ’Sister Orb, not yet? You should have mapped quite a big chunk of this labyrinth central region already.’

[The problem is not mapping it, idiot! The problem is that it keeps changing. I’m creating a map that predicts the movement of crystal platforms and guides you on where to go. Now, stop complaining and keep running.]

’Hey, I found Zangeshu,’ Kentucky said.

Zangeshu, too, nodded. ’Should we separate again, like Rean and Foliana just did?’

[No,] Sister Orb had enough. [Rean, Foliana, go back and meet again before you lose sight of where you two are. I should have all the information I need in an hour at most, so I need you and Kentucky to guide Foliana and Zangeshu.]

’Hey, there is still me!’ Tanxan complained. ’Can’t you think of something so I can find you guys?’

Sister Orb was mapping everything through her connection with Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Celis. She couldn’t do the same thing with the other three. [Hum... I asked the four idiots to leave marks on the platforms on purpose. As long as you find one of those platforms, I should be able to direct someone to your location. If not, it is complicated for me to do anything else.]

Tanxan was quite lucky, though. Many of the platforms had marks, as the twins’ group wouldn’t be the only ones to have that idea. Fortunately, Tanxan found one of the marks left by Roan over a day ago. ’Hey, is this the one?’

[Yes! That’s the one! Let me see... the closest one to you right now is... Celis! Tanxan, stay there. I’ll have Celis meet you. Is that okay, Celis?]

’No problem.’ Celis accepted.

And so, Sister Orb finally got all the information she needed. [So that’s the pattern the platforms use when they change the shape of the labyrinth, uh? Foliana was actually being too conservative. Believe it or not, there is always only one correct path. Alright, all of you, follow my lead.]